Coaches

Everything a Loudoun coach needs, in one place.

Playbook, tools, printables, glossary, funding, and a mentor signup. Open to any coach or mentor in Loudoun County — whether you coach a Loudoun Robotics team, a school-based team, or a self-organized one. We share what works.

New here? The Playbook now has two rookie tracks — Starting an FLL team or Starting an FTC team — each with the "which FLL is my kid on?" glossary and a 5-step launch guide. Coaching your second or third year? Jump to Grow & sustain for adding a second team, handing off, or staying sustainable across seasons.

The playbook

Coaches Corner

Five steps to launch a team, real Loudoun numbers, hard conversations with 3 scripts, funding paths, Grow & sustain for year 3+, and a monthly meetup. The core doc.

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Coach tool

Skills matrix

Rubric for tracking student growth across the season — robot, Innovation Project, Core Values, and team habits. Click to edit, print for the whiteboard.

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FLL · Judged 30% of score

Innovation Project playbook

Structure the FLL Innovation Project across the season: pick a problem, research, design a solution, present. 15-week arc, rubric alignment, common mistakes.

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FTC · Half of judged awards

Engineering Notebook playbook

Structure the FTC Engineering Notebook across the season: what to document each phase, sample entries, rubric criteria, common mistakes. Physical or digital.

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FLL + FTC · Where awards are won

Judging interview prep

The exact questions judges ask, session length by program, mock-interview cadence, and the common mistakes that kill rookie scores. Two rounds of mocks separates confident teams from frozen ones.

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Printable

Parent Expectations 1-pager

Send this to families before week one. Time commitment, tournament reality, costs, and how parents help. Fully customizable in the browser.

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Season timeline

15-week season planner

Week-by-week rhythm for FLL/FTC coaches: pre-kickoff, mid-season slump, competition prep, and the qualifier weekend. Printable.

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Ready to teach

Fall curriculum — 12 weeks

Build a robot, learn what makes it fast or strong, program it, finish with a sumo tournament. One hour a week on EV3. Syllabus and student engineering notebook, free to download.

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Money

Apply for a team grant

$150–$300 typical, with room to negotiate for more, for any Loudoun FLL/FTC/FRC team. No strings. Loudoun Robotics can act as fiscal sponsor too.

Apply / read rules
Not running a team?

Sign up as a mentor

A few hours a month is enough — pick what you're good at (build, code, judging prep, sponsor asks). We pair you to a team that needs your specific skill.

Mentor signup

Not sure which door is yours?

Email admin@loudounrobotics.org — tell us your situation in a sentence and we'll point you to the right thing.

Email us